Belarus’ First Deputy PM: in 2024, exports of private companies totalled $16bn – about half of the country’s total exports
Over the past thirty years, the number of small and medium-sized companies in Belarus has grown more than 14 times – as reported by Belarus’ First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov during President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s meeting with representatives of private enterprises
According to Mr. Snopkov, there were different stages of entrepreneurship development in Belarus, e.g., in the early 1990s an entrepreneur was mainly a ‘trader involved in shuttle trade and reselling’, but over time this image has changed significantly, reflecting the process of formation of the Belarusian economic model.
In 1996, the Head of State signed decrees On State Support for Small Business and On Improving State Management in the Field of Entrepreneurship and Investment Promotion. According to the First Deputy PM, in thirty years, the sector of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship has grown from 8,000 enterprises to 115,000 organisations.
“Of these, 40 percent are employed in the manufacturing sector (industry, construction, transport, and agriculture). In three decades, the number of people employed has increased from 230,000 to 1.4 million, accounting for almost 30 percent in GDP,” Mr. Snopkov emphasised.
According to him, exports of private enterprises totalled almost $16bn over the past year.
“I underline that this is without oil and potassium. This is about half of the country’s exports of goods. The geography of supplies keeps pace with the state-owned manufacturing sector, covering three quarters of the world’s countries (146 states out of 193),” the Deputy PM added.
The share of revenues to the consolidated budget from these enterprises made up 33 percent. At the same time, district and territorial revenues are generated at about 40 percent due to deductions from small and medium-sized businesses.
